


Meeting

by stephanericher



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Office, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 20:48:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4320150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephanericher/pseuds/stephanericher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kise comes in late to a meeting only to find an almost pleasant experience.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> midokise week day 5: au (late LATE)
> 
> prompt: person A who sits in the back of every staff meeting and makes snarky comments under their breath about everyone the whole time and person B who arrived late and sat next to them and can barely hold in their laughter
> 
> sorry nakamura

It’s not Kise’s fault he’s late; it’s only because he got stuck in traffic after oversleeping because he’d been working late the night before—perhaps there’s some merit in what people say about taking the train and always being on time, but still. When he’s working at a more reasonable pace and gets up on time, he’s there in time to beat traffic and grab breakfast at that cute bakery down the street with the barista who always flirts with him and usually gives him a discount on his coffee and muffin. Of course, today there’s no barista and no coffee and no muffin. Kise half-considers stopping anyway since he’s already late and today is the pointless weekly staff meeting that has too many people from too many departments to really ever accomplish anything but make everyone bored and cut into the time they could use to actually be productive (of course, Kise’s not in position to be able to complain about this to anyone but friends from outside work, who tell him if it sucks so much he should find another job but they just don’t understand).

But for once Kise does the responsible thing; after finding a parking space he leaves his car and walks straight into the office building, waving cheerfully at the security guard. He’s still close enough to being on time that he can lie and say he was in the bathroom or something if anyone asks, which they might not because the usual stragglers will still be filtering in and he’ll just be one of them.

The seats in the back are mostly empty, thankfully; the head of the accounting department is at the whiteboard up front and barely notices Kise as he steals in, flopping beside beside the guy with green hair from research and development (Midori-something, which amuses Kise to no end) who’s doodling on a legal pad. Kise’s never talked to this guy before, and he’s not sure if it would go over well if he asks what he missed—not that he really cares, but it’s a conversation starter at any rate.

“And we’re hoping,” says the accounting head, adding another illegible note to the board with her bright orange marker, “to improve efficiency and resource conservation by becoming more neat and organized. That’s our goal this week.”

“I’m presuming that starts with you and your handwriting,” the guy next to Kise mutters. “Because a toddler with finger paints could write more neatly than that.”

Kise snorts. Midori-something flicks his gaze to Kise and then back to the legal pad. His eyes are framed by thick green lashes and they’re beautifully shaped; even with those ugly glasses he wears he’s quite an attractive guy. His legs are long, too; his knees are up against the seat in front of him even though he’s sitting up almost perfectly straight as he doodles. The pictures of stars and geometric shapes have turned to swirls and jagged lines on his paper. Kise supposes that from the front it might look as if he’s paying attention, another innocuous employee doing his due diligence. The accounting head clearly has no problem with it as she finishes up, leaving her marker uncapped on the board.

“Always a great way to conserve resources, letting the markers dry out,” Midori-something says.

Kise bites his lip. While this guy has always seemed a little bit disdainful of his surroundings the few times Kise’s seen him, he had no idea he was this full of snark. The head of human resources, Nakamura, steps up to the board and Kise almost groans; he supposes he should pay attention now. Still, maybe he’ll get to hear some derisive comments about his annoying boss (although usually his announcements aren’t too terrible in the scheme of things).

“Hello,” says Nakamura, adjusting his glasses. “Good morning. We in HR are always looking to improve efficiency as well; it’s the goal of our whole office. In the past week we’ve stepped it up, although we’re looking for some cooperation from you. It helps us become more efficient and streamlined when we have direct communications; if you have a personnel issue or need someone to talk to, don’t wait. We need quick, one-on-one meetings with you for this to happen. In addition, most of our mass communication can be done via e-mail in regards to what paperwork we need from all of you.”

“Right,” Midori-something says. “That’s why we’re still having these completely necessary meetings.”

This time he’s actually written something relevant on his paper, and outlined it in a box—MEETINGS THAT OVERRUN THEIR TIMESLOT IMPROVE EFFICIENCY. Kise feels his shoulders start to shake, and before anyone up front or on his other side can look at him he turns it into a polite fake cough. This is too much; this guy is too much (and he’s much too attractive). But Kise can’t remember the last time he’d enjoyed a meeting this much, or even the last time a meeting didn’t feel like he was drilling a hole in his head.

* * *

 

Office gossip can be a wonderful thing; it’s easy to covertly find out this guy’s name (Midorima Shintarou) and when he takes his morning (quarter after eleven on the dot, every day); it’s easier to slip out of the HR department and head to the break room to get coffee at ten past eleven and pretend to read the paper while he waits for Midorima to show up.

Midorima doesn’t greet him at first, pouring a cup of coffee for himself, so Kise coughs to get his attention.

“Midorima-san, it was so good talking with you earlier.”

Midorima blinks at him, almost dropping his mug and staring for a few seconds before he says anything.

“I don’t remember you saying much.”

Kise shrugs. “Well. I was wondering if you’d like to talk some more sometime? I’d contribute a little bit…more to the conversation. Oh, and I’m Kise Ryouta, by the way.”

“I know who you are,” Midorima says; his cheeks are blotching as if someone’s coloring them in with a pink crayon and it’s fucking adorable.

“Well?” says Kise.

“I take my break at this time every day,” says Midorima.

It’s a start.


End file.
